US Airways lands at bottom of complaints heap
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 6, 2006 05:37 PM
US Airways finished at the bottom of the heap in airline consumer complaints for May, according to a report released Thursday by the federal government.
The Tempe-based airline finished 20th out of 20 airlines monitored by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, notching 1.22 complaints for every 100,000 times a customer set foot on a plane.
The airline saw substantial progress in baggage handling in May, finishing 14th out of 20 airlines but cutting the rate of problems nearly in half. In May 2005, the airline ranked 19th of 20 among baggage complaints. advertisement
The number of mishandled-baggage incidents spiked in December 2004, when the pre-merger US Airways had major baggage problems.
An airline spokesman said the ratings weren't surprising, given US Airways' troubled financial past. The airline merged with America West Airlines last September after enduring two bankruptcies in four years.
"When you're doing that, you're trying to survive, not to thrive," said Phil Gee, US Airways spokesman.
He said the airline sees promise in the "dramatic improvement" in the mishandled-baggage statistics for May - 5.69 complaints per 1,000 passengers, compared with 9.73 a year earlier.
As that figure improves, overall customer complaints will drop, Gee said.
And the airline was pleased with its on-time performance - completing trips on time 80.6 percent of the time in May, the latest month for which statistics are available.
Still, US Airways dropped to 11th in the on-time rankings, compared with April's No. 5 ranking.
"Our on-time performance has been fantastic since the merger," he said. "We slipped a bit in our performance (ranking) because they got better, not because we got worse," he said of competing airlines.
Southwest Airlines, which does heavy traffic out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, ranked ninth, being on time 81 percent of the time.
The top-ranked on-time airline for May, as has become customary, is Hawaiian Airlines with a 95 percent on-time rating. It was followed by Aloha Airlines at 88.7 percent and Frontier at 84 percent. ATA Airlines finished at the bottom of the pack, at 66.1 percent for May.
In other news, US Airways reported that its flights were nearly 84 percent full in June, even while its traffic dropped 4.8 percent from June 2005. Capacity dropped 9.2 percent over the same period.
Gee attributed those declines to the fact that US Airways has shed 60 planes from its fleet, leaving it with 358 planes serving its mainline routes.
And for the sixth straight month, the airline reported a jump of more than 20 percent in revenue per available seat mile, a key benchmark. Gee declined to give a more specific figure, citing competitive factors, but said more details would be available in the airline's quarterly report.
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 6, 2006 05:37 PM
US Airways finished at the bottom of the heap in airline consumer complaints for May, according to a report released Thursday by the federal government.
The Tempe-based airline finished 20th out of 20 airlines monitored by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, notching 1.22 complaints for every 100,000 times a customer set foot on a plane.
The airline saw substantial progress in baggage handling in May, finishing 14th out of 20 airlines but cutting the rate of problems nearly in half. In May 2005, the airline ranked 19th of 20 among baggage complaints. advertisement
The number of mishandled-baggage incidents spiked in December 2004, when the pre-merger US Airways had major baggage problems.
An airline spokesman said the ratings weren't surprising, given US Airways' troubled financial past. The airline merged with America West Airlines last September after enduring two bankruptcies in four years.
"When you're doing that, you're trying to survive, not to thrive," said Phil Gee, US Airways spokesman.
He said the airline sees promise in the "dramatic improvement" in the mishandled-baggage statistics for May - 5.69 complaints per 1,000 passengers, compared with 9.73 a year earlier.
As that figure improves, overall customer complaints will drop, Gee said.
And the airline was pleased with its on-time performance - completing trips on time 80.6 percent of the time in May, the latest month for which statistics are available.
Still, US Airways dropped to 11th in the on-time rankings, compared with April's No. 5 ranking.
"Our on-time performance has been fantastic since the merger," he said. "We slipped a bit in our performance (ranking) because they got better, not because we got worse," he said of competing airlines.
Southwest Airlines, which does heavy traffic out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, ranked ninth, being on time 81 percent of the time.
The top-ranked on-time airline for May, as has become customary, is Hawaiian Airlines with a 95 percent on-time rating. It was followed by Aloha Airlines at 88.7 percent and Frontier at 84 percent. ATA Airlines finished at the bottom of the pack, at 66.1 percent for May.
In other news, US Airways reported that its flights were nearly 84 percent full in June, even while its traffic dropped 4.8 percent from June 2005. Capacity dropped 9.2 percent over the same period.
Gee attributed those declines to the fact that US Airways has shed 60 planes from its fleet, leaving it with 358 planes serving its mainline routes.
And for the sixth straight month, the airline reported a jump of more than 20 percent in revenue per available seat mile, a key benchmark. Gee declined to give a more specific figure, citing competitive factors, but said more details would be available in the airline's quarterly report.
